SCIENCE IN THE TENTH AND TWELFTH CENTUEIES. 



By r. KITTON. 



CIEXCE in the tenth 

 century! the reader 

 may be tempted to 

 exclaim. What did 

 they know of science 

 iu those dark ages ? 

 Compared with the 

 knowledge of a charity-school 

 boy of the present day, it 

 must be admitted that scien- 

 tific knowledge at that period 

 was small indeed. It is popu- 

 larly supposed that the clergy* 

 were desirous to keep what 

 knowledge Ihey possessed to 

 themselves. This, however, 

 is not the fact ; the dense 

 ignorance of the mass of the 

 people, and the limited means 

 of diifiising knowledge, ren- 

 ',' dered instruction of any kind 



both expensive and difficult. 

 The specimens of popular science I am about to 

 introduce to your notice are taken from M5S. that 

 must have attained a certain amount of popularity. 

 The first is a Manual of Astronomy, of which 

 several copies are still extant. It is written in 

 Anglo-Saxon, The name of the compiler is un- 

 known, and it consists mainly of a free translation 

 of a portion of Bede's Be Natura Reritm. The ex- 

 tracts are literal translations from the Anglo-Saxon. 

 The following extract is a specimen of the com- 

 piler's Anglo-Saxon : — " Ic wolde eac gyf ic dorste 

 pluccian sura gehwcede andgyt of thsere bee the 

 Beda se snolera lareow gesette & gaderode of 

 manegra wisra lareowa bocum, be thees geares 

 ymbrenum fram anginne middan-eardes that nis to 

 spelle ac elles to rsedenne tham the hit licath." — 

 "I would eke, if I durst, pluck some little infor- 



* This word had not at that period the restricted meaning 

 it now bears ; it simply meant one who could read aad 

 write. 



Xo. 85. 



mation out of the book which Bede, the skilful 

 master, formed and compiled out of the books of 

 many wise masters concerning the courses of the 

 year from the beginning of the world. This is not 

 for a discourse, but otherwise to be read by those 

 whom it pleases." 



" Truly when the Almighty Creator created this 

 world, He said, 'Let there be light !' and directly 



there was light On the second day God made 



heaven, which is called the firmament, which is 

 visible and corporeal ; and yet we may never see it, 

 on account of its great elevation and the thickness 

 of the clouds, and on account of the weakness of 

 our eyes. 



" The heavens incloses in its bosom all the world, 

 and it ever turns about us swifter than any mill- 

 wheel, all as deep under the earth as it is above. It 

 is all round, and studded with stars. Truly the 

 other heavens that are above and beneath are inde- 

 scribable and unsearchable of men. There are, in- 

 deed, many more heavens, as the prophet said, 

 * the heaven of heavens.' " 



The compiler proceeds to describe the remaining 

 days of creation in similar language. His descrip- 

 tion of the sixth day's creation is scarcely in 

 accordance with the account, in Genesis. He says 

 that God made all kind of animals, and all cattle 

 that go on four feet, and the two men Adam and 

 Eve (& tha twegen menn Adam &Efan). "On the 

 seventh day he ended his work, and the week was 

 then completed. Now every day in this world is 

 the result of the sun's light. Truly the sun goes by 

 God's command between heaven and earth by day 

 above, and by night under the earth, so far under 

 the earth in the night-time as she rises above it in 

 the day. She is ever running about the earth, and 

 so light shines under the earth by night, as she does 

 above our heads by day. The sun is very great — 

 broad she is,* so the books tell, as the whole com- 

 pass of the earth ; but she appears to us very small, 



* The sun and moon in Anglo-Saxon and moat ol the 

 northern languages are respectively female and male. 



B 



